


lilies and baby's breath

by nonbinaryezrabridger



Series: pac rim bingo [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:47:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25675348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonbinaryezrabridger/pseuds/nonbinaryezrabridger
Summary: Years after piloting in the Kaiju war, Raleigh finally starts a flower shop he's been wanting to run for years. Next to his shop is Mako's tattoo's. He wanders in one day and meets the owner, Mako, and they quickly become friends.
Relationships: Raleigh Becket/Mako Mori
Series: pac rim bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861732
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	lilies and baby's breath

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for the loccent's on tumblr's pac rim bingo
> 
> tw for this story: discussion of yancy's death, but nothing explicit

\---------

Raleigh finishes looking over his newly acquired shop, the boxes of stuff he’s moved in waiting to be opened. The furniture is to be moved in tomorrow, so he can’t set up yet. Instead, he steps out onto the sidewalk, glancing proudly at his (his!) storefront, and takes a look at the stores next to his. One is closed and boarded up, but the other is open. It’s small but looks well kept, and it’s neon sign proudly proclaims it as a tattoo shop. He makes the split second decision to enter, pulling the door open and listening to the bell attached ring. He’s curious about his neighbor, and it can’t hurt to say hello, right?

He steps inside and looks at the art covered walls with awe. He may be an artist himself---arranging flowers counts as art in his book---but he’s never had a knack for drawing. He feels the familiar itch to get a tattoo and smooths his hands over the one on his waist; a cockroach, because he’s a cockroach motherfucker who’s impossible to kill. He didn’t spend years fighting kaiju and survive to not commemorate it with a tattoo.

He’s spent a few minutes just staring at the shop and thinking, but now he wonders if there’s even anybody here. He stops just in front of the gate keeping him from the back section of the store, which has two chairs in it. He cocks his head, catching a glimpse of a shoe, as if a person is sitting back there. He finally gives in and says:

“Hello?”

The shoe shifts and the person stands, coming into view. She’s wearing a tank top and tight fitting black jeans. Her exposed arms are noticeably muscular, as well as covered in sleeves of tattoos. Her hair is chin length, with the tips dyed blue. 

Oh shit.

Thinks raleigh.

She’s hot.

She looks up at him with sharp brown eyes and says, with a hint of annoyance:

“The sign says to ring the bell.”

Sure enough, there’s a printed sign next to a bell that says: “ring bell for assistance”. Raleigh shuffles nervously and apologizes:

“Sorry, I didn't see it.”

She softens slightly, though she still doesn’t smile. She steps over to the desk and asks:

“I assume you’re a first time customer then? Did you pay your deposit over the phone?”

Raleigh jumps; she’s speedy and efficient, she’s already handing him some paperwork.

“Oh, I’m not a customer.”

The annoyance makes a return and Raleigh scrambles to explain:

“I’m the owner of the shop next door.”

Finally, she smiles, and it’s as beautiful as he could have imagined.

“They finally sold it, did they? So what are you putting in?”

Raleigh smiles proudly.

“Flower shop. Been planning it for years. Ever since the war ended.”

She chuckles and says:

“You know, most people wouldn’t have picked you as a flower shop owner.”

Raleigh grins and says:

“Well, I live to break expectations.”

She nods, tucking her hair behind her ear as they fall into silence. Raleigh waits a few moments before he asks:

“So, you a fan of kaiju?”

She looks confused for a moment before realizing and looking down at her kaiju covered arms.

“Not really. I was a jaeger pilot.”

Raleigh’s suit scars feel like they’re burning. It’s been so long since he talked with someone who was involved in the war.

“Me too. Who’d you pilot?”

The woman looks surprised, which merges into pleased.

“Azure serpent. You?”

“Lady danger.”

She smiles again and he feels his heart skip a beat. He wants to see that smile more, if possible. She says:

“Impressive.”

“Thanks, you too.”

Once again, a beat of silence, before she startles and says:

“Oh, my name’s Mako Mori, by the way.”

“Raleigh Becket. Nice to meet you.”

She reaches out to shake his hand and he takes it. Then, before he can say more, a customer pushes in the door. She throws him an apologetic glance and says:

“Sorry, I’ve got to get this.”

He nods and waves goodbye before leaving, stepping back out into the sunlit outside. He can’t stop smiling at the thought of possibly seeing Mako again.

\-------

Raleigh hears the door open---no bell yet, he keeps forgetting to buy one---and steps out from behind his counter, expecting a customer. Instead, to his excitement, he sees Mako. she’s wearing a jacket covering her tattoos today, leather with studded shoulders. It’s a good look on her, but isn’t everything? Raleigh kicks himself out of his thoughts and says:

“Hi!”

Mako turns from admiring an arrangement and smiles, replying:

“Hey.”

Raleigh fidgets for a moment before he asks:

“Looking for anything in particular?”

Mako nods, still running her fingers over a furry leaved potted plant. 

“Yes, it’s my father’s birthday. I wanted to get him something unusual and I’ve never gotten him flowers before.”

Raleigh grins and rubs his hands together excitedly.

“That’s sweet, Mako! Any ideas where you want to start?”

She shakes her head, heer hair flying with the movement, and says:

“No ideas. You’re the expert, I figured I’d leave it up to you.”

Raleigh hums, already thinking, and asks:

“Would you like a mix of flowers or just one type?”

She thinks for a moment before says:

“Just one, I think. He appreciates the simple things.”

Raleigh rushes over to the fridge with pre arranged bouquets and pulls one out, saying:

“Then this should be perfect.”

Mako takes the bouquet of yellow roses and sniffs them. She asks:

“Any particular reason for yellow roses?”

“Well, yellow roses mean friendship, but can also mean familial love. So I felt it fits.”

She graces him with a bright smile and says:

“They’re perfect, thank you.”

Raleigh rings her up, his heart almost stopping when she hands the money over and their hands brush. He’s got it bad, but she seems to like him well enough, which leads him to hope that their friendship will continue to grow. She waves goodbye and throws him one last smile before she leaves the shop. Raleigh is once again left smiling by her visit.  
\-----

Raleigh pulls up Mako’s tattoo shop’s website, which is simple but effective. It only takes him a moment to find her phone number and dial it. He taps his foot as he waits through the rings until she picks up:

“Mako’s tattoos, how can I help you?”

He stops tapping his foot and focuses solely on talking to her:

“Hey Mako, this is Raleigh from next door.”

He can almost see her smile through the phone. 

“Hey Raleigh, nice of you to call, we haven’t talked in a while!”

He grins stupidly to himself at her eagerness and replies:

“Yeah, I wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’ve been busy but it’s been good. My friend who works at the shop with me finished up the kaiju on my left sleeve, and it looks amazing! I love her work.”

“Man, that sounds awesome, I can’t wait to see! And speaking of tattoos, I was hoping to make an appointment with you to get one.”

“Oh great! I can’t wait to work on you. Let me get some info from you and then we can set up a time.”

“Sure.”

“Where are you looking to get the tattoo and a basic description?”

“A heart filled with flowers, on my chest.”

“Alright, when is good for you?”

“How about monday, 2:30, next week?”

“That works for me.“

There’s a jingle of a bell in the background and she says:

“Sorry, I gotta go. See you soon?”

Raleigh smiles and says:

“See you soon.”

\----------

Raleigh is at Mako’s shop at exactly 2:30. He’d gotten Newt to reluctantly agree to staff the shop while he got the tattoo, but only because he knows how important this one is to Raleigh. He pushes through the door to find Mako waiting behind the desk. This time when she hands him the paperwork, he takes it, reads it and fills it out. He hands it back and she smiles as their hands brush. Then she shuffles behind the desk to pull out a drawing:

“You said daffodils inside the heart right?”

Raleigh nods.

She puts down a piece of paper, adorned with a drawing of a heart filled to the brim with daffodils. Raleigh is left speechless for a moment before he stutters out:

“Mako, it’s perfect!”

She smiles, proud of her work, and says:

“I’d hope so, considering this is about to be permanent.“

Raleigh laughs and says:

“Would it be any fun if it wasn’t?”

She laughs and shakes her head, pulling open the gate to welcome him into the back half of the store. She gestures him towards a chair and says:

“Okay, shirt off.”

Raleigh pulls his shirt over his head and sets it on a nearby seat. Mako then instructs him to sit down in the chair and begins pressing a piece of paper to his chest. When he looks down next, there’s an outline of the art she’d made on his chest, right over his heart. He feels emotional seeing it there, sad but also like it was exactly right. As if it always should have been there. Mako has him stand up and check the placement before he sits back down and she prepares her tattoo gun. 

She starts with the black outline first. He winces slightly at the pain, but it’s tolerable. For some time they just listen to the buzz of the gun. Then Mako speaks up:

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but any special meaning behind this tattoo? Or the cockroach?”

Raleigh replies, feeling a pang of that insistent sadness at talking about it:

“Yes to both. The heart is for Yancy, my brother, daffodils were his favorite. He was my copilot.”

Mako asks softly:

“You lost him, during the war.”

Raleigh sighs.

“Yes.”

Mako stays focused on the tattoo but does say:

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.”

There’s a long moment of silence before Raleigh remembers the second part of the question.

“The cockroach is because I’m hard to kill.”

Mako smiles up at him, wiping at the tattoo for a moment so she can look him in the eyes.

“I like it.”

Raleigh leans back, grinning, and watches the ink bloom under his skin.

\-------

Raleigh stands outside Mako’s shop, shifting nervously a bouquet in his arms. It’s an arrangement of pink lilies and small white baby’s breath and he thinks it’s quite pretty. He’s known Mako a while now, and it doesn’t feel it’s going to be out of place to ask her out. Doesn’t mean he’s not out of his mind with worry, though. Still, he’s not going to let that stop him. So he takes a deep breath and pushes the door open. Mako looks up as the bell jingles and gives him a bright smile. She steps out from behind the desk and up to him, admiring the flowers in his arms. She asks:

“Are those for me?”

Raleigh smiles, nervousness chewing a hole in his stomach, and replies:

“Yeah, I wanted to say thank you for the tattoo.”

Mako laughs and takes the flowers, disappearing into the back room before rememerging with the flowers in a tall cup of water. She teases:

“And here I thought getting paid was thank you enough.”

Raleigh laughs and decides it’s time.

“Mako, I also had something to ask you.”

Mako turns away from petting the liles and focuses on him again, saying:

“Yeah.”

Raleigh shuffles a little, but he’s committed now, no getting out of it. 

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

Mako’s grin only gets wider and she says:

“I would love that, Raleigh.”

He laughs, relieved, and next thing he knows Mako is at his side. She offers him her hand and he happily takes it, intertwining their fingers. Then she tugs him towards the door, saying:

“There’s a new ice cream truck down in the park, let’s try it out!”

\----------


End file.
